Another Toledo Prospect Could Find His Way To Eagles

When Howie Roseman falls in love with a college, he falls hard. He has sprinkled his Super Bowl rosters these past three years with players from Alabama to Georgia, heavyweights in preparing players for the NFL.

Toledo, not so much.

Roseman grabbed the best the Rockets had to offer in some time when he took Quinyon Mitchell in the first round of last year’s NFL Draft. Mitchell took flight early and was a finalist for the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year in his debut season.

There’s another player from Toledo that could make sense for Roseman and the Eagles when this year’s draft begins on April 24. He is 6-3, 304-pound defensive lineman Darius Alexander, who plays a position the Eagles will target this offseason with the expected departure in free agency of two d-linemen in Josh Sweat and Milton Williams.

“I think that we’re going to go wherever the players are,” said the Eagles GM at the NFL Scouting Combine from Indianapolis earlier this week. “When they’re local and they’re closer obviously it makes it a little bit easier for us, love having local guys and guys who play for schools that a lot of our area went to, but our job is very simple - we have to get the best possible players. We gotta continue to bring in talent to the building. Whether they come from Australia or Penn State, we’re gonna try to find them.”

Or Toledo, perhaps?

“I feel like I accomplished I could be one of the guys out there to play ball, that I could play with the best of them,” said Alexander. “I think my whole game translates to the NFL. I just want to go out there and work.”

Alexander said he and Mitchell ate good friends and communicate often.

“That's a guy I talk to a lot,” he said.” That's my brother right there. Just to go see him do what he did was wonderful and showed how he sticks to his process. … I always take pride in representing the MAC. Most people feel like it's a small conference with small guys there, but we've got great players, too.”

Alexander probably would be a reach in the first round with the 32nd and last pick in the draft, though his performance at this week’s Combine coupled with his Senior Bowl practices, where he was reportedly one of the standouts, could vault him into a late first round, early-second round selection.

Tom Fornelli, of CBS Sports believes he’s done enough to warrant the Eagles attention at No. 32 and, in his initial mock draft, that is who he has Philly taking.

“Darius Alexander's tape can be a little difficult to judge because of the opposition he's facing, but there's no questioning the athleticism and power he shows,” Fornelli wrote. “Plus, you know, taking defenders out of Toledo has already worked out for the Eagles. Maybe they can make the Rockets their new Georgia Bulldogs?”

Alexander was a second-team All-Mac pick his final year at Toledo, collecting 40 tackles, with 7.5 tackles for loss, and 3.5 sacks. He returned an interception for a touchdown in a six-overtime bowl win over Pitt.

It’s a deep class of players at his position on the edge, something that gives the Eagles plenty to evaluate, but how does it help Alexander stand out in a crowded field?

“I play everything on the D-line,” he said. “I don't play just one spot. I'm a game wrecker and I just love to show my skill off.”

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